Hockey

Hockey is the darker sibling of Fucking Awesome. Jason Dill and Anthony Van Engelen (AVE) launched it in April 2015 under the FA World Entertainment umbrella, introducing it with a promo video built around two total unknowns, Donovon Piscopo and John Fitzgerald. The name came from Dill telling the pair they “looked like hockey players and skated like hockey players”, plus a very Dill piece of logic: nobody else would ever call a skateboard company Hockey, which made the trademark a formality. Ten years on, it sits near the top of contemporary street skating.

History

Hockey built its reputation the old way, through videos. From the 2015 launch promo onward, the brand has strung together a run of promos and full-lengths — plus joint videos with FA — up to its latest full-length, each release reinforcing the dark, lo-fi identity. Behind the lens throughout is Benny Maglinao, the brand’s video and creative visionary, whose deliberately raw, underground filming style became as recognizable as the graphics themselves. Distribution has hit its own milestones too: FA opened its first store on Hollywood Boulevard in 2019, decorated with Jason Dill’s artwork and a full-size LAPD police car suspended from the ceiling as the centerpiece, and a second store followed in Lower Manhattan in 2021.

Who’s on the team

Both launch riders, Piscopo and Fitzgerald, are still on. Around them: Ben Kadow and Andrew Allen (both since 2016), Nik Stain, Kevin Rodrigues, Caleb Barnett, and a newer generation in Diego Todd and Joe Campos. Co-founder AVE officially rides for FA but shows up in the joint videos, the latest included.

Boards, graphics, construction

Hockey’s whole visual identity nods to cult horror cinema. The recurring “Eyes Without a Face” graphic and tagline references “Les Yeux sans visage”, Georges Franju’s 1960 French horror film, with some graphics lifted straight from the film’s poster. Hockey-mask imagery, pure slasher-movie stuff, threads through the collections and plays off the brand name. Many decks feature embossed, textured printing, which is a big part of why they get collected as much as skated. Shape-wise, Hockey uses the same shape catalog as Fucking Awesome, so if you already know which FA board fits you, the Hockey equivalent will feel identical underfoot. The brand doesn’t publicize its manufacturer; per a community-maintained woodshop directory (circa 2020-21), FA/Hockey decks have been pressed at PS Stix and BBS in Mexico.

Who it’s for

Hockey is a premium core-street brand with serious collector pull: limited drops, sold through core shops and FA’s own stores. Collabs have included a limited Vans capsule with custom canvas colorways and embroidered details, and a Hockey x Independent Trucks collection, on top of constant joint releases with FA. If you want graphics with actual weight behind them and don’t mind the hype tax that comes with the FA ecosystem, it’s an easy brand to commit to. If you just need anonymous wood to thrash, there are plainer decks out there.